0> 



"^Of 



M 



"■-'% 



^:->" 



'^m^i 



! * 



* * 



' ^ 



-'cnsoop-u: 

 "T it faf * 



'* 1 



't» 



/^' 



« uttumiv 



41 



•■-i dopiti; 



rl 



ti TMlr"*?, 



J[: 



'. .: prefect D8 



K 





n aiiii tiiS 



I 



..;* 



toiiee:^ 





'-: in i^^ 



,A[t- 



..'f 



>^ 



. .. *r«3»' 



fit' 



'.ti.m 



'*; 



HUTTONIAN THEORY 



o 



439 



mers 



This is eflential to the cbmpenfation and 



liability above mentioned 



had one 



ted round the fun in a diredion from eaft 

 ft. and another in a diredion 



from 



ft 



eaft, the difturbances they would have produ- 



v^ould not necef- 



;ir irregularities 



d 



th 



motion 



farily have been period 



th 



might h 



lly 



d 



d they 



might have deviated in the 



their 



beyond 



fe of ages from 

 any limits that 



% 



can be affigned. 



The other circumftance, on which the ftability 

 of our fyftera depends, is the fmall eccentricity 

 of the planetary orbits, or their near approach 

 to circles. Were their orbits very eccentric, an 

 opening would be given to progreffive change, 

 that might fo far i' ?reafe, as to 'prove the de- 

 ftrudion of the whole. But neither the move- 



t of all the planets in the fame dired 

 fmall eccentricity of their orbits. 



the 



afcribed to accide 



can 



fi 



that 



ther of tliefe 



Iliould happen by chance, in as lAany inftance; 

 as there are planets, both primary and fecondary 



IS 



oft infinitely improbabl 



As 



th 



any neceffity in the nature of things iliould have 



either determined the diredion of the planetary 



" motions, or proportioned the quantity of them 



E e 4 



to 



* La Place, ibid. 



